As the name hints at, Biwako Valley is just next to Biwako, not 15 minutes away by bus from Shiga station (itself a 40 minute ride from central Kyoto).
It’s rather small: about a dozen courses, none of them incredibly long. Tahoe resorts certainly have nothing to worry about… But for such a close place, it is a totally enjoyable skiing daytrip option!
I also learnt of it very recently, just when I was giving up hope on skiing here (without shelling out half a kidney on bus/train ride alone)…

Then again: why do you even care: don’t you just have to skip off the windows to be on the slopes nowadays?

@Scott: not completely unlike Tahoe. Much more urban though (down below). Also, much lower altitudes: the station starts around 1000m. But it’s a nice spot, and less than an hour from home, door-to-door… Hard to beat 🙂

My windows do indeed open onto slopes now, but I envision a return to Dai Nippon once I rassle this grad school thing to the ground. Nice to know I can ski in Kansai, without selling my own kidneys for a trip to Nagano or Hokkaido (though gaijin kidneys fetch a fair penny in China these days).